Lyukabte (liu-KAHB-teh) occupies the eastern quadrant of the Steppe, stretching north from Peladoste up to the tundra of Zhyamade, with its long and gentle coastline facing the wrath of the Stormwrack Ocean (and the occasional Skalding raid). Though the frequent storms can be devastating in their power, they also bing with them rain, which keeps the plains and rolling hills of Lyukabte fertile and green. The region’s fertile soil and high rainfall make for excellent farming, though anyone attempting to grow food here must be careful to only use crops that can withstand hurricane winds and a thorough drenching every couple of months. Settlements in Lyukabte, especially those near the coast, are built with great care to ensure that they can withstand the storm winds, with buildings frequently being built into the ground in areas where there is little risk of flooding.
Because of the relative ease of agriculture in the region, it has had a history of much denser urbanization and more centralized government than the other parts of the Steppe. The Burya Korolev of the early Second Millenium is the only true “empire” that the rest of the Continent would recognize as such in Tomarran history, though it lasted less than three centuries before it succumbed to internal strife and raids by its neighboring Korosi. Nonetheless, the region has far more cities and towns than any other Tomarran Province, and despite having only a tenth of the Steppe’s geographic area it is host to a fifth of the Steppe’s population, as well as a significant chunk of its industrial base.
The people of Lyukabte are proud of their home’s history as the breadbasket of Tomarr, and farming is seen as the keystone in the traditional Lyukabten way of life. They keep to the Great Balance in their own ways, ensuring that the wild prairies around their farmlands are tended with the same care and attention as the crops, and that even in the densest and most orderly of cities there are still chaotic murals painted on alley walls and wild impromptu dances held in market squares. Despite — or perhaps because of — their Province’s distance from the rest of the Continent, they tend to be highly interested in the tales and activities of foreigners, and many Lyukabtens have given up their urban or agricultural life to join the nomadic Kiths in search of new stories and people.
The staple crop of the Province is a short-stalked and incredibly tough varietal of rice known as wind-blessed rice, with brown hulls and long black grains; in ancient times warriors would wear armor fashioned out of the stalks from their fields left over after the harvest, and the sharpness of a blade is still proven by how thick of a mat fashioned out of wind-blessed stalks it can cut through.